Misiorowski edges Sale 2-1: Braves leave the tying run on second in Milwaukee

Jacob Misiorowski threw six scoreless. Chris Sale threw six and still lost. Milwaukee beat Atlanta 2-1 on Friday at American Family Field, and the only two Brewers runs came in the third.

Sale’s line was the kind that usually gets you a handshake: six innings, eight hits, two earned, six strikeouts, zero walks, 94 pitches. Every hit was a single. His ERA moved from 2.16 to 2.20. He has now allowed three earned or fewer in 20 straight starts, which leads the majors. He also dropped to 12-9, and he did not want the moral victory.

Sale was good. Misiorowski was the problem.

Misiorowski (13-5) needed 96 pitches for six innings, four hits, two walks, and six punchouts. Thirty-two of those pitches were 100-plus. The last one that counted topped out at 103.1. ERA: 1.68. Strikeouts: 216. He leads the sport in both.

Sale, who Misiorowski grew up watching, called it “probably the most impressive fastball I’ve ever seen” and said the kid is “in a league of his own this year.” That is not a beat-writer compliment. That is a 37-year-old ace telling you he just saw something he cannot throw.

The damage was one inning. Luis Lara and Jackson Chourio opened the third with singles. William Contreras — 4-for-4 on the afternoon — singled Lara home. Andrew Vaughn’s fielder’s choice scored Chourio. Sale never walked anybody and never gave up an extra-base hit. The Brewers just kept finding grass.

Walt Weiss called him a warrior and a true ace. Sale’s version: “If I gave up nine runs and we win the game, I’d be in a whole [heck] of a lot better mood than I am right now.”

Acuña’s arm was the best Atlanta swing

The Braves did not score until the eighth. They still almost stole it.

In the fifth, Lara ripped an 81 mph Sale slider down the line and took off for two. Acuña cut it off short of the wall and threw 92.3 mph on a line to Mauricio Dubón. Lara was out. Weiss said 99 times out of 100 that’s a double. The other time, Acuña is in right.

Lara got him back in the sixth — a leaping catch at the wall that robbed Matt Olson. Then Harris II, who is riding a six-game hitting streak, singled Acuña home with two outs in the eighth. Antonio Senzatela walked Ozzie Albies to load the bases. Dubón flied to right.

Ninth inning: Mike Yastrzemski two-out single, Lane Thomas pinch-ran and stole second, Trevor Megill struck out Acuña for his 24th save. Potential tying run, standing on second, game over. Braves 75-54. Brewers 80-49.

The series is not the Sale start

Thursday’s 2-0 Holmes no-hit bid in Chicago snapped the Minnesota sweep. Friday was the actual test, and the lineup failed it. Eight hits, one run, bases loaded in the eighth, tying run in scoring position in the ninth. That is not a pitching problem.

Saturday is 2:10 p.m. ET: Martín Pérez (8-7, 3.15) against Logan Henderson (7-2, 2.70). Official MLB listing. Sunday is the Little League Classic in Williamsport — Tyler Mahle vs. Shane Drohan, 7:10 p.m. ET on ESPN — then the Dodgers at Truist.

Pérez just had an 18-inning scoreless streak snapped in Minnesota. Henderson is the quieter half of Milwaukee’s rotation and still has a 2.70 ERA. If Atlanta’s bats look like Friday again, Sale’s start is just the first loss of a weekend they cannot afford to split-and-pray.

Bird Gang bottom line

Sale did what an ace is supposed to do in a 2-1 game. The lineup treated the best fastball in baseball like a suggestion and then left the tying run on second twice. Take Saturday from Henderson or this Milwaukee trip becomes the week first place started to feel thin.

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